Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

Which other authors do you enjoy? Discuss them here.
User avatar
Anita Bensoussane
Forum Administrator
Posts: 26768
Joined: 30 Jan 2005, 23:25
Favourite book/series: Adventure series, Six Cousins books, Six Bad Boys
Favourite character: Jack Trent, Fatty and Elizabeth Allen
Location: UK

Re: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Ah yes - The Cuckoo's Calling and The Silkworm by "Robert Galbraith". They do sound good, Sixret, and I intend to give them a try.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


Society Member
User avatar
sixret
Posts: 4130
Joined: 16 Aug 2006, 14:25
Favourite book/series: Five Find-Outers,Mr.Twiddle,Barney R
Favourite character: Mr.Twiddle,Fatty,Saucepan,Snubby

Re: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

Post by sixret »

I haven't read the second one, but from the reviews on Amazon, most of them in agreement that the second one is better. I can highly recommend the first one.
I stand with justice and the truth. Palestine will be free from the river to the sea.

Learn the history. Do research.

The hypocrisy, double standard, prejudice and bigotry own by some people is so obvious.Shame on them!
User avatar
7upromana01
Posts: 2364
Joined: 09 Feb 2012, 20:03
Favourite book/series: Famous Five
Favourite character: George, Julian, Anne, Timmy
Location: Earth

Re: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

Post by 7upromana01 »

Anita Bensoussane wrote:Deathly Hallows Part 1 is extremely intense and intimate, so I feel that a very personal scene like that fits in well. It's a time of despair, and the dance between Harry and Hermione allows us - and the characters - a moment to reflect on their deep friendship, which gives them the strength and courage to keep going. It's touching to have a warm moment like that amid the gloom. That's how I see it, anyway.
This scene is beautiful. I also love how the music stops, they look at each other, you think they're about to kiss but Hermione stays true to Ron and turns away.
Abi.

Still trialling other writers, but will eventually go back to reading a bit of Blyton! Just too many books...

Occasionally will pop in! xx
User avatar
Courtenay
Posts: 19274
Joined: 07 Feb 2014, 01:22
Favourite book/series: The Adventure Series, Galliano's Circus
Favourite character: Lotta
Location: Both Aussie and British; living in Cheshire

Re: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

Post by Courtenay »

I found it utterly absurd some time ago when J.K. Rowling said she had regrets about Ron and Hermione's marriage because they weren't really a good match for each other and would have struggled to stay together as a couple. I mean, hello... who created them, and who made them get together? Since they are entirely creations of her own imagination, Rowling herself was the one with complete control over who they are, how they feel and what they do - she could easily have either made them more compatible or else paired them off differently... :roll:

I reckon Hermione and Harry would have made a much better match for each other; I honestly couldn't see the attraction of Ginny Weasley for Harry either. But then, to me, the series as a whole started out brilliantly promising and then got hopelessly bogged down by the end - very disappointing overall.
Society Member

It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
User avatar
Anita Bensoussane
Forum Administrator
Posts: 26768
Joined: 30 Jan 2005, 23:25
Favourite book/series: Adventure series, Six Cousins books, Six Bad Boys
Favourite character: Jack Trent, Fatty and Elizabeth Allen
Location: UK

Re: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Regarding Ginny Weasley, I don't feel we get to know her very well as a person but I can see why she and Harry might be drawn to one another. If I remember correctly, she began by hero-worshipping him but gradually warmed to his more vulnerable side. He had been a lonely, neglected child and obviously loved being part of Ron's large, affectionate family - so it's not surprising that he fell for a girl from that family and became a member by marriage.

I'm not entirely convinced by the relationship between Hermione and Ron, even though they've been through so much together, but I hadn't heard that J. K. Rowling had expressed doubts about it. Did she mean she had planned from the beginning for them to become a couple, but as she wrote the books and fleshed out the characters the pairing of those two didn't seem as likely as she'd originally thought, but she stuck with it because important plot points and other relationships would be affected if she didn't? If so, it's a pity she didn't take the time to have a rethink - but then she was under a lot of pressure from the publishers and film-makers to work to a relatively tight schedule. It must have been difficult writing the later books in the series after the first few books had already been filmed, because the early films might have shown certain things in a way that restricted their development later on.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


Society Member
User avatar
Courtenay
Posts: 19274
Joined: 07 Feb 2014, 01:22
Favourite book/series: The Adventure Series, Galliano's Circus
Favourite character: Lotta
Location: Both Aussie and British; living in Cheshire

Re: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

Post by Courtenay »

Anita Bensoussane wrote:Regarding Ginny Weasley, I don't feel we get to know her very well as a person but I can see why she and Harry might be drawn to one another. If I remember correctly, she began by hero-worshipping him but gradually warmed to his more vulnerable side. He had been a lonely, neglected child and obviously loved being part of Ron's large, affectionate family - so it's not surprising that he fell for a girl from that family and became a member by marriage.
Good points, Anita. I've always just found it annoying that Harry quite suddenly realises he has feelings for her, and yet we never really get to know her - she doesn't play any huge (let alone indispensable) role in the plot. I would rather he fell for someone who showed more character, and that we could have seen the relationship between them develop and deepen as the series went on, so that their relationship became much more an essential part of the story.
Anita Bensoussane wrote:I'm not entirely convinced by the relationship between Hermione and Ron, even though they've been through so much together, but I hadn't heard that J. K. Rowling had expressed doubts about it. Did she mean she had planned from the beginning for them to become a couple, but as she wrote the books and fleshed out the characters the pairing of those two didn't seem as likely as she'd originally thought, but she stuck with it because important plot points and other relationships would be affected if she didn't? If so, it's a pity she didn't take the time to have a rethink - but then she was under a lot of pressure from the publishers and film-makers to work to a relatively tight schedule. It must have been difficult writing the later books in the series after the first few books had already been filmed, because the early films might have shown certain things in a way that restricted their development later on.
I really don't know, although I got the feeling she was suggesting she felt pushed into it somehow. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any desperately important plot points that would have been affected if Ron and Hermione hadn't got together, or indeed if Harry and Hermione had. Or even if Hermione had originally been drawn to Ron but then realised Harry was more right for her - which might have given scope for some exciting fireworks between the three main characters! :lol: Could have worked brilliantly, I reckon - and then perhaps there could have been another girl who was better for Ron as well. (Luna Lovegood?? :mrgreen: Only kidding.)

I do agree, though, that one heartwarming aspect of the plot, throughout the series, was that Harry felt so drawn to Ron's big, loving family; I'm pretty sure I had tears in my eyes near the end of one book (you aficionados will be able to tell me which one it is) where Mrs Weasley hugs Harry and he realises he has no memory of being held like this before, as if by a mother. It's a beautiful moment (Mrs W. was always one of my favourite characters). But wanting to become truly part of a family isn't in itself a good reason for marrying into it, and Ginny herself wasn't well developed enough as a character and as a participant in the story to make it a really satisfying match.
Society Member

It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
User avatar
Fiona1986
Posts: 10527
Joined: 01 Dec 2007, 15:35
Favourite book/series: Five Go to Smuggler's Top
Favourite character: Julian Kirrin
Location: Dundee, Scotland
Contact:

Re: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

Post by Fiona1986 »

Ginny did have quite a big part in the second book, even if we didn't see much of it happening in real time. I think Ginny and Harry's relationship is foreshadowed all the way through, from her embarrassment at meeting him the first few times (coming down to breakfast in her nightie, squeaking and running away) sending him a singing gnome valentine, dating Dean Thomas when it doesn't appear Harry is interested in her (and he then realises he is as soon as someone else is with her). I've always interpreted her shyness around him as a crush on him as a person rather than because he is the famous Harry Potter.
"It's the ash! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits...
"Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!" yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience.


World of Blyton Blog

Society Member
snugglepot
Posts: 1447
Joined: 03 Apr 2014, 06:40
Favourite book/series: Five Find Outers, Faraway Tree, Barney Books
Favourite character: Fatty
Location: Australia

Re: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

Post by snugglepot »

Fiona1986 wrote:Ginny did have quite a big part in the second book, even if we didn't see much of it happening in real time. I think Ginny and Harry's relationship is foreshadowed all the way through, from her embarrassment at meeting him the first few times (coming down to breakfast in her nightie, squeaking and running away) sending him a singing gnome valentine, dating Dean Thomas when it doesn't appear Harry is interested in her (and he then realises he is as soon as someone else is with her). I've always interpreted her shyness around him as a crush on him as a person rather than because he is the famous Harry Potter.
Finally someone with the same opinion as me!
I was getting quite negative reading all this anti Ginny and anti Harry/ Ginny stuff that I thought had been left behind.

Let me say that I read the first four Potter books in 2001 after buying them for my then eight year old daughter for Christmas in 2000. I knew, from the moment I read a certain scene set in the book store at the beginning of Chamber of Secrets, that Ginny was the one for Harry and I never deviated from that. Later in the same book there is a scene where Ron defends Hermione's honour by standing up and cursing another character, and that is when I knew Ron and Hermione would end up together.

I never saw any attraction shown between Harry and Hermione so I was shocked when I entered the online world in 2002 and learnt how many people believed that it was going to end up being Harry and Hermione!
I have to admit to being disgusted with what Jo Rowling said about Ron and Hermione recently. Yes she wrote them and she wrote them in a way that caused me (and many others) to recognise the hints and work out how they would be together.

To me, I feel that the reason she was thinking along those lines is because of her relationship with the old friend she based Ron's character on. She admitted she had a friend when she was younger who owned a blue Anglia and she really loved him and he's the one who Ron was based on. She also admits that Hermione is based on herself and in that interview she describes how Ron/Hermione was wish fulfilment for her when she wrote it.
Think about it. She began writing when she was a lonely single mother with a broken marriage. She was thinking back to her dear friend and wishing things had worked out with them so she writes the two of them into her story and this time they will end up together.

Then the years pass and she meets a new man, falls in love and marries him and her fondness for the old friend fades away and, I believe, her fondness for Ron as a character dies too.
Perhaps she sees her new husband as a Harry-type ( I see him as a Percy-type myself) and that is why she is saying these things.

Sorry for the long rant but it was good to get it off my chest.

If you haven't worked it out I adore Ginny and Ron as characters, I cannot stand Hermione, But I love the Harry/Ginny pairing and I always will!
User avatar
Courtenay
Posts: 19274
Joined: 07 Feb 2014, 01:22
Favourite book/series: The Adventure Series, Galliano's Circus
Favourite character: Lotta
Location: Both Aussie and British; living in Cheshire

Re: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

Post by Courtenay »

snugglepot wrote: I have to admit to being disgusted with what Jo Rowling said about Ron and Hermione recently. Yes she wrote them and she wrote them in a way that caused me (and many others) to recognise the hints and work out how they would be together.

To me, I feel that the reason she was thinking along those lines is because of her relationship with the old friend she based Ron's character on. She admitted she had a friend when she was younger who owned a blue Anglia and she really loved him and he's the one who Ron was based on. She also admits that Hermione is based on herself and in that interview she describes how Ron/Hermione was wish fulfilment for her when she wrote it.
Think about it. She began writing when she was a lonely single mother with a broken marriage. She was thinking back to her dear friend and wishing things had worked out with them so she writes the two of them into her story and this time they will end up together.

Then the years pass and she meets a new man, falls in love and marries him and her fondness for the old friend fades away and, I believe, her fondness for Ron as a character dies too.
That's very interesting, Snugglepot. I hadn't heard any of that background about who Rowling based Ron and Hermione on, and yes, that would explain a lot - including her eventual disillusionment with their relationship that she herself created.

I wasn't meaning any offence to those who passionately love the Harry Potter characters just as they are. I'm not a huge fan of the series myself, that's all - I was at first, but felt it started to falter seriously from the fourth book onwards - and to me one of the major flaws was that all the romances (including those that didn't work out, like Harry and Cho) seemed contrived and awkward. But I'm glad to know there are fans who did find that aspect of the books satisfying.
Society Member

It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
snugglepot
Posts: 1447
Joined: 03 Apr 2014, 06:40
Favourite book/series: Five Find Outers, Faraway Tree, Barney Books
Favourite character: Fatty
Location: Australia

Re: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

Post by snugglepot »

That's fine. I will not take offence as I understand how people see things in a different way. I am just so mad at JKR after all her years of telling us how she loves Harry with Ginny and Ron with Hermione to turn around and give that interview with Emma Watson ( Who I cannot stand by the way. I loathed her portrayal of Hermione post Chamber of Secrets.)
I agree that Jo did not write the romances as well as she could have done but I enjoyed them all except for Cho/Harry. I hated Cho from the moment she was introduced and Order of the Phoenix is my least favourite book in the series because of Cho and all the relationship rubbish with Harry. I was so glad when she messed up and they parted company and he was free to move onto Ginny, the girl I had known he would end up with since Book 2.
User avatar
Anita Bensoussane
Forum Administrator
Posts: 26768
Joined: 30 Jan 2005, 23:25
Favourite book/series: Adventure series, Six Cousins books, Six Bad Boys
Favourite character: Jack Trent, Fatty and Elizabeth Allen
Location: UK

Re: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

That's interesting about the real-life background to the Ron and Hermione relationship, Snugglepot.
snugglepot wrote:I adore Ginny and Ron as characters, I cannot stand Hermione...

I love Harry, Ron and Hermione but never really warmed to Ginny - though I think that's chiefly because we see a lot less of her. J. K. Rowling created some wonderful characters. I also love (or love to read about!) Hagrid, Snape, Professor McGonagall, Gilderoy Lockhart, the Dursleys, Neville Longbottom and Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


Society Member
User avatar
Moonraker
Posts: 22387
Joined: 31 Jan 2005, 19:15
Location: Wiltshire, England
Contact:

Re: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

Post by Moonraker »

It seemed obvious to me, right from the start, that Hermione and Harry would end up together. I have never understood the reasons behind the eventual pairing.
Society Member
snugglepot
Posts: 1447
Joined: 03 Apr 2014, 06:40
Favourite book/series: Five Find Outers, Faraway Tree, Barney Books
Favourite character: Fatty
Location: Australia

Re: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

Post by snugglepot »

You must have read a different version of the books than I did.
User avatar
Moonraker
Posts: 22387
Joined: 31 Jan 2005, 19:15
Location: Wiltshire, England
Contact:

Re: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

Post by Moonraker »

Sorry? I don't follow...
Society Member
User avatar
Spitfire
Posts: 1055
Joined: 16 Jun 2010, 20:57
Favourite book/series: Most of the stand-alone stories
Favourite character: Snubby & Mr. Twiddle.

Re: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

Post by Spitfire »

I like a good bit of romance, but for me the pairings were far less important and interesting than any other aspect of the stories.

I like Ginny Weasley, she's a feisty, courageous character and think that she and Harry, and Ron and Hermione make convincing enough couples. Ron clearly has feelings for Hermione before he knows what he's feeling, poor lad - his reaction to Hermione and Krum together at the Christmas Dance was proof of that, and I thought it comic reading.

I haven't seen the last two films yet. While I've enjoyed the previous films, they always seem rushed (long as they are!) because they have so much story to cover that they seem to go from scene to scene without giving the viewer any chance to really savour the delights of Rowling's magical world.
Sarah
Society Member

Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. Psalm 139
Post Reply